Sep 13, 2011

ESA calls for Sentinel-5 Precursor Mission Advisory Group members

Within the framework of the GMES initiative, ESA is developing a series of ‘Sentinel’ satellites. As part of this development process, the Agency has released a call for Mission Advisory Group members for the Sentinel-5 Precursor mission.

Applications can be made via the following website: http://missionadvice.esa.int. Please note that the deadline for submission is 7 October (12:00 CEST).

Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) has been established to fulfil the growing need amongst European policy-makers to access accurate and timely information services to better manage the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security.

Under the leadership of the European Commission, GMES relies largely on data from satellites observing Earth. Hence, ESA – in accordance with the European Space Policy – is developing and managing the Space Component for the initiative.

To ensure the operational provision of Earth-observation data, the Space Component includes the series of five Sentinels missions being developed by ESA specifically for GMES. Sentinel-5 Precursor (Sentinel-5P) is scheduled to launch in 2014 to monitor the atmosphere from polar orbit.

As its name suggests, Sentinel-5P will be the forerunner of Sentinel-5, which will provide observations from polar orbit for the GMES Atmosphere Service once it is launched in 2020. Sentinel-5P will carry the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument, Tropomi, which is an advanced absorption spectrometer to provide data on atmospheric trace gases and aerosols linked to air quality and climate.

In general, the role of the Mission Advisory Group is to provide technical advice to ESA during the development and implementation of the mission. For more information about the Mission Advisory Group application procedure please visit the website noted above which is also linked from the right-hand bar.